We blooming did it!

James Trimble

Dr Stan da Prato, a judge for Beautiful Scotland and editor of Caledonian Gardener, said he was disappointed by the £3000 council funding reduction for flower bedding displays in the town, but delighted by the town’s reaction to the setback.

Dr da Prato said: “The Linlithgow community has risen to the challenge.

“The response to pleas from Burgh Beautiful for help in taking over the council’s floral displays has been fantastic and I understand nearly every such feature in the town will be retained, thanks to the volunteers, local organisations, sponsors and donors.”

Burgh Beautiful, an environmental campaign which aims to maintain and improve the local environment, has had around 40 volunteers mucking in this year.

Chairman Chris Gunstone said: “We used to do 50 per cent of the displays in the town, but now we have to do them all. Of course we are stretched, but the response we’ve had from people has been magnificent.

“We’ve had people sponsoring hanging baskets and planters and quite a lot of donations too, along with more volunteers helping than we’ve ever had before. These displays cheer people up.

“Two of our members said they came to live in Linlithgow specifically because it looked so nice. We want to keep it that way.”